Sasu & Saku: In A Tree A Naruto Fanfic
by Lover of Stories 24
Summary: “It's not that! You caught me off guard!” “Hnn. It was easier than I would have expected…”


_Sasu & Saku – In A Tree_

Haruno Sakura sat amongst the leaf-draped boughs of a steady tree, the proud, sturdy kind that stubbornly holds its ground and refuses to bend over when the wind rushes past. Her legs dangled several feet off the ground, cooled by the gentle breeze.

In the kunoichi's fingers was a short note scratched onto a slip of paper.

- Flashback -

"I think you have a scrap of paper stuck on the back of your shirt," Naruto informed his candy-haired friend, scratching the back of his head.

Sakura's temple twitched, emerald eyes narrowing in her signature pissed-off look. "It better not be something stupid, like a Post-It note that says 'Kick Me'…" she snarled, hand searching for the unwanted accessory.

"Well, I had nothing to do with it," Naruto said quickly. "…What would give you that idea?"

"I put one on Ino's back yesterday," Sakura replied nonchalantly, fingers grasping the scrap. "Only, it said 'Second Dumbest Blonde.'"

"Who's First?"

"…Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Um, no…?"

"Good." She patted him on the head and walked off, opening the scrap of paper on her way.

_Sakura, this is--_

Sakura's eyes widened before she even read the name that came next. She would have recognized that writing anywhere. After all, she had once studied it continuously for over a month in order to pass her writing off as written by its source, in order to prank out Yamanaka with a forged love letter. Blondie had fallen for it, of course. Not that it was obvious or anything – other than to anyone who either was Uchiha Sasuke or had studied his handwriting for a month.

- End Flashback -

Sakura looked down at her hands, and noticed that she had subconsciously ripped the paper to shreds. She could hardly believe Sasuke was coming to meet her. Of course, the letter could have been forged, or Sasuke could have been lying, but somehow she knew that neither of the two was the case.

Although the letter was reduced to useless crumbs of parchment, she knew each word that had been on it. They had been etched into her mind, as if someone had taken a kunai and written them into her brain with the point.

_Sakura, this is Sasuke. Meet me at the tree at midnight – you know, the one at the Konoha gates. It's that tree I used to go to when I was thinking. (I know you and Ino were spying on me…)_

Sakura checked the glow-in-the-dark watch hanging on her wrist, which was one of the reasons she could see through the vast blackness. The other reasons were the moon and stars. It was exactly seven minutes and twenty-four seconds until midnight. She had arrived at this spot about half an hour early, and had been passing the time by watching the seconds rush past on the watch's screen.

The breeze wafted past, tickling her chin. Carried on it were the drifting leaves of the nearby trees, dancing in the filtered light echoed off the cloud-cloaked moon.

It was just like the night Sasuke had left.

Sakura smiled sadly, reflecting over the memory. Her lashes began to droop, and they had good reason to, as she had been up almost the entire night before. She'd barely gotten half an hour of sleep. That was not good – sleep deprivation numbed her reflexes, along with the basic skills she possessed as a shinobi. Which was especially bad tonight, as she suspected a fight would ensue from the "meeting" with her ex-teammate.

_11:54._

Haruno let her wrist drop, absentmindedly polishing the watch. As if that would make the time pass faster. She wondered what her friends would think if the night resulted in her death. Would they hate her for being stupid enough to come here by herself? Would they not care that she was gone?

She could just picture Naruto burning his ramen… Okay, something was wrong with that picture. Neji would put on a dramatic act but not really care, as he hardly knew her. Ino would be sad, but of course Yamanaka had tons of other friends to take her place. Sasuke would be…the one who had killed her. Wow. She had conveniently forgotten about that little detail… It just seemed like he belonged in the village. Lately, she kept forgetting that he had left. It was really weird, because normally, she didn't forget stuff like that. She simply wasn't the type of person to forget.

Her eyes darted to back to the watch.

_11:55._

Lee had given her this watch just recently. It had a little photograph on the back, in which the heads of him, Naruto, Ino, and herself were visible. They had been laughing, talking together as friends. What the photo didn't show, however, was that she had been crying just seconds before the picture was taken, but wiped off the tears at the last moment. The watch had been a present, something meant to cheer her up. And it had.

Then it hit her. She hadn't thought about how Lee would feel if she died. He'd always promised to be there if she needed him – but how could he, if he didn't know where she was? Lee…Lee would be broken.

The guilt weighed at the back of her mind. She couldn't do that to him. But it wasn't like she could walk up to his house in the middle of the night and bang on the door. What was she supposed to do?

_11:56._

"I'm supposed to not die," she murmured, leaning back against the tree trunk. The bark was rough and scratchy against her back. It felt…imperfect. And that was a comfort. Somehow, the knowledge that not even in nature were things perfect eased the burden of the imperfections that made up her life. If things were perfect, Sasuke would never have left. If things were perfect, problems wouldn't exist. If things were perfect…life would be completely and utterly boring.

Sakura sighed and tucked a stray strand of bubble gum pink hair behind her ear. Bubble gum… She remembered how, when she was little, back before Sasuke's parents had died, she'd had a birthday party to celebrate her turning six years old.

Ino had been there, as well as Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Hinata, and the pack of Sasuke fangirls who used to bully her before Ino had stepped in as her protector. Not Shino. He didn't go to parties. In fact, he had flat outright given back the invitation with holes covering it, holes his insects had undoubtedly been crawling through.

They had been singing happy birthday, and then, instead of blowing out candles on a cake, as usual, she was blindfolded and took her first swing at the piñata. The piñata was an ugly thing, ragged and tattered, and made to look like the head of an enemy shinobi.

When Sakura had gone to the store with Ino and her parents to pick out a piñata, Ino had wanted to get the prettiest one, a sparkling one shaped and painted like a little fairy, complete with a glittery magic wand. But Sakura, being the more sensible one, had pointed out that if they got such a pretty one, it would be a shame to smash it. And the whole point of a piñata was smashing it to get the candy. Ino had grudgingly agreed to get the most detestable specimen, casting one last wistful glance towards the fairy princess. After much thought, Ino bought the fairy herself, and hung it up in her bedroom, never to be smashed.

In the end, it was Sasuke who shattered the "evil ninja" piñata, with one swing of the bat. There had been a loud smattering of cheers from his fangirls, which almost – but not quite – drowned out Naruto's complaint that it would have been his turn next, and if it hadn't been for that stupid Sasuke-teme, he could have landed the final blow.

Naruto, however, joined in the diving for candy soon after, as hyper as ever, and seemed to be more or less content, especially when he got a stick of ramen-flavored pocky. It must have been stuck in there just for him – no one else would touch it.

Sakura was satisfied with her strawberry pocky, and Ino munching on her chocolate. Everything was splendid – until the moment of doom arrived.

It all started when Sakura finished her stick of pocky and picked up a piece of bubble gum, removing the wrapper. She would have been perfectly happy to just chew it, but Ino insisted on teaching her how to blow a bubble. After all, it was _bubble_ gum, and what was bubble gum without bubbles? This seemed perfectly reasonable to Sakura, yet it was what led to disaster.

Ino had picked up a piece of bubble gum, as well, and popped it into her mouth. She then blew a bubble, a perfectly sized bubble, shiny and round and a brilliant pink.

Sakura followed Ino's instructions, but apparently she didn't get them quite right, which was nearly unthinkable, because Sakura _always_ followed directions correctly. The Haruno blew a bubble, certainly…a bubble that grew far too big, and popped with a burst of motion. It would have been bad enough if it had popped on her face, got stuck in her hair – But no.

That stupid, idiotic bubble was determined to make her look bad, and thus popped on the head of none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

"S…Sasuke-kun! I'm s-so sorry!!" she had practically cried, feeling the blood flood to her cheeks.

His perfect raven locks were splattered with sticky pink gum. Gum that wouldn't come out, no matter how many times she begged it to, tugging at the gooey strands, trying to tease them out. Sasuke had said practically nothing, only a single, meaningless word: "Hnn."

She hadn't been able to show her face for weeks.

_12:00_

Sakura jolted as the reading on her watch changed to the one she had been waiting for, and the watch beeped softly, as it did every time the hour changed. She laughed at the memory, knowing how she must have looked when the gum bubble exploded, then pushed that to the back of her mind. It was time. Sasuke would be here any minute now. Any second…

"Eeeek!" the kunoichi yelped, jumping as something tapped her on the shoulder. Her head spun, as if on its own, before freezing into place.

Emerald clashed against onyx, green fire meeting indifferent ice head-on.

"Sas…Sasuke-kun…" Sakura breathed, the "-kun" having been added merely out of habit.

_He could have killed us just now!_ her inner voice hissed. _Focus, baka!_

"I don't know why you're so surprised," Sasuke said. "If you didn't think I was coming, why did you come?"

"It's not that!" she snapped, her eyebrows knitting into a V of doom. "You caught me off guard!"

"Hnn. It was easier than I would have expected…"

"Shut up. I'm sleep-deprived, okay?" she growled, becoming rather annoyed with his cockiness. "Why'd you ask me to meet you here, anyway?"

Cold hands pushed a sealed roll of parchment into her right hand, locking her fingers around it. She flinched at the touch.

"This is for the Hokage's eyes only. You are to give it to her the next time you see her."

"Pfft. Since when do I let traitors tell me what to do?"

Sasuke looked at her in surprise, his jet black eyes reflected in her darkening green.

There was an unusually sharp note in her voice, a note of hatred that the old Sakura never would have had in her. The old Sakura had been a bratty little girl, concerned only about Sasuke-kun this and Sasuke-kun that. But the new Sakura had so much more to care about. And so much more to feel – even the darker emotions like hatred, the emotions that the bratty little girl from the past never had the time for. The old Sakura's eyes had been a clear, crystal green. But the new Sakura's eyes were darkening, clouding over with the pain of what she had seen through them.

For a moment, Sasuke decided to actually consider the question. The answer was quick to come to his mind. "Well, you did come to meet me here…"

"GAH!" Sakura punched up and outwards, making his neck crane backwards as his chin shot up, reeling backwards from her fist.

Ah, there was the old Sakura, the forgotten Sakura buried somewhere deep inside of her, the one who came out whenever her emotions were unbalanced – which wasn't that rare of a situation, really. The bipolar child who would get angry, punch people for seemingly no reason, and cool off two seconds later. The little girl she wanted to go back to being sometimes, the little girl who came out of her shell every time she felt helpless, every time she broke down, every time she cried.

Sasuke rubbed his chin, looking a bit peeved. "I think I got a bruise."

"_Duh_."

"Well, you _asked_--"

"Hmph." Sakura tossed the scroll at him. "Is that all you wanted? For me to deliver the scroll?"

"Yes. Is that too much to ask?" he asked, deftly snapping out his hand and catching it in his grip.

"…"

Sakura wasn't sure which she was more of, relieved or disappointed. So they weren't going to be fighting, after all. She felt like a burden had been lifted off her shoulders. She didn't have to worry about letting down her friends, about what would happen to them if she died. She didn't have to worry that the last thing she would have said to Naruto was an implication that he was the world's finest current example of a dumb blonde.

And yet, another part of her felt that it was too bad…she had wanted to fight Sasuke for a long time. This part of her was from her newer self, another thing that wouldn't have been found in the old Sakura. This craving for danger of hers had never existed back in the days when Sasuke had been a member of Team 7. But now, it burned hot inside her, pulsing with the desire to be released. It thirsted after blood. It didn't seem to matter _whose_ blood – as long as blood was spilled. Even if it was her own.

"Well?" Sasuke asked, breaking the silence.

"If all you wanted was to have your message delivered, why didn't you just leave the scroll and a note about it on my back? Why did you ask me to meet you here?" she asked finally.

Sasuke was quiet for a moment. "I wanted…to see you again." His eyes were serious.

Sakura stared.

He smiled, the first genuine smile she had seen out of him for years. It wasn't a cold smile, or an evil smile, or a sad smile, or a smirking smile – it was a real smile, warm and happy and everything. Even his eyes smiled. They had lost the outer layer of ice, revealing an inner warmth that came from out of nowhere. Literally.

"IT'S THE APOCALYPSE!!" the emerald-eyed ninja shrieked, wondering whether she was still mentally stable.

What a way to ruin the moment.

"You'll wake up the whole village," he hissed, glaring at her. "Will you just take the scroll?"

"Fine," she muttered darkly, gingerly accepting it. "By the way, how did you get that note on my back?"

"I didn't put it on your back – I put it on the back of your shirt. While it was at that drop-off laundry place."

"You got into the laundry place and _no one_ recognized you!?" The kunoichi's eyes were as close to popping out as they could be without actually popping out.

"Yes. Don't ask."

"…I don't think I want to know."

"Hey, Sakura-butt! Who the heck are you talking to?" Ino called from somewhere closer than Sasuke would have liked. "Are you insane? You were up practically all night yesterday, and you're not going to sleep tonight either? And what's all this about the apocalypse!?"

Sakura was quiet as Sasuke disappeared, then leaned down to yell at Ino. "Calm down, baka! I'm coming!"

Ino narrowed her eyes into slits. "You still haven't told me who was talking to you."

"No one. You must have been hearing things," Sakura said smoothly as her feet reached the ground. "I was just sitting out here by myself. Thinking."

"You're such a bad liar," Ino sniffed, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder. "I don't believe even Naruto would fall for _that_."

"I don't believe he would either."

"Let me give you some advice. If you don't want people to track you down and kill you in your sleep, it might be a good idea to refrain from yelling loud enough to be heard eight miles away. In the middle of the night, no less."

Sakura smiled. "Ino…" She paused, forcing herself to keep from adding the "-pig." "Would you care…if I was dead?"

Ino's eyes widened. "So that's what was going on – someone was giving you a death threat!" she exclaimed. "Don't worry, Saku. Me and Lee have got your back!" She even did an out-of-character thumbs-up sign, complete with the supposedly jazzy shimmer off her teeth.

"Don't. Do. That," Sakura said, backing away slowly. "Are you actually Gai-sensei in disguise or something?"

"Sorry. I felt like it," Ino said, shrugging. "… YOSH!! I am the Leaf's Handsome Green Beast!"

"Ino-pig, you have issues."

"I was just getting it out of my system…geez…"

"Yosh! Greetings, Sakura-chan! Ino-chan!" Lee said, managing to look alive even though it was past twelve and he had just gotten back from a mission. Well, that was because he was Lee.

"Lee! She's bashing your ways!"

"No, I just find them creepy on you. Konoha beast impostor."

"But Sakura-chan, youth is for everyone! Even her!"

"Yeah! You just got PWNED, Saku-butt!!"

"Don't call her that, Ino-chan! It's not youthful!"

BAM.

"Ow…"

"S—Sakura-chan…punching your friends isn't youthful either…"

Author Notes:

The singsong voice of a young child floats eerily across the page, ringing in your ears.

_Sasu, Saku, jumpin' in a tree,_

_Playin' neenja killin' spree._

(Chant to the rhythm of _Name-one, Name-two, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G_.)

Okay, that had NOTHING to do with the story whatsoever, other than that Sasuke and Sakura and a tree were mentioned, but whatever. I was bored the other day, and made it up. And the syllables fit! SHANNARO!! …Um, sorry for creeping you out there. Thanks a bunch for reading!! -hands you a Fudge Mint- 'Tis a Fudge Mint. We were running low on pocky, so…yah.

DISCLAIMER (because there are always people who don't know the meaning of the word "fanfic"...X.X): None of the charries belong to me. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto. (My sincerest apologies if I spelled his name incorrectly.)


End file.
